Title: Brothers Author: DantanaSkywalkerTimeframe: circa ANHCharacters:Genre: vignetteKeywords: OT, Summary: A short look into the relationship of two brothers.Author's Notes: I don't own either of these characters.

It was a nice day for a swim.

At least, that's what his brother said. Not that his brother was letting him come with, as much as he wanted to. He kept calling him a baby, and telling him to go home.

The little boy was five years old; he'd just celebrated his birthday. . His brother was quite a bit older, all of ten years old. The older brother was annoyed at having to play with his brother, on their mother's orders.

"He adores you," his mother had told him this morning. "I think it would be good for the two of you to play together. And he's got no one else to play with."

Grudgingly, he'd let his little brother follow him outside, but he'd been trying to ditch him every since. It annoyed him that the "baby" could find him so well.

A group of older boy approached. They were the boys that the older brother desperately wanted to make friends with, but he knew they'd make fun of him if he told them he had to play with his brother today.

The little boy watched as his worshipped older brother sneered at him and ran off with the other boys. He watched as they stripped down to their trunks and dove into the water.

He didn't want to be left alone. Padding to the edge of the dock, he let his little toes hang over and watched as the older boys splashed each other. One of them called out a challenge: to the buoy and back, first one back was the winner.

His brother's dark head cut through the water. He felt a surge of pride; his brother was the best! He knew his brother would win!

One of the other boys, the leader, was gaining on his brother. The little boy glowered, praying that his brother would win. If he won, maybe he'd be happy enough to let him play, too.

It was close, so very close, but the little boy let out a happy shout when his brother got back to the starting point one whole length ahead! He jumped up and down, cheering.

One of the other boys looked over, and jeered him. "Hey, look, it's the brat!"

His little heart fell when his brother glared at him and turned away. He frowned and sat on the edge of the dock, his short legs nowhere near the water, and sighed. He plunked his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his hands.

He didn't understand why no one wanted to play with him. It wasn't like he was a girl or anything! He was five! He was old enough to play! And besides, Momma had ordered his brother to play with him.

He didn't want to tattle, but he didn't want to play by himself . . . yet again.

Decision made, he considered how to get into the water. He was too scared to jump off the dock, like his brother and the other boys had done. But he couldn't slide off the dock, either; he was too far away. Sometimes it was hard being small. Of course, there was the minor obstacle that he didn't really know how to swim, but he wasn't thinking about that. He just wanted to play with his brother!

Finally, the little boy crawled to his feet, walked back up the dock, and went to the bank of the water, where the cool waves lapped at his toes. Puffing up his small chest, he strode bravely into the water.

He discovered instantly that the water was a lot colder than it looked. And the bottom dropped out sharply. It wasn't anything like the shallow area where Daddy took him to swim.

He floundered, splashing his little arms, until he remembered what his father had told him. He began paddling, working his way slowly towards the other boys. But it was a long way, and he couldn't swim very fast.

He began to tire before he was halfway to them. They'd moved farther out now, and he started to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He couldn't feel the bottom, and was suddenly afraid that maybe there was so/>